A large part of my career has focused on outreach and education. I have always loved working with students of all ages to teach them about the wonders of the environment and the importance of scientific research.

As an undergraduate student at Gettysburg College, I founded and led an environmental education program called Food, Land, People with the help of the Center for Public Service. The focus of this program was to teach students ages 7 to 10 about natural resource use, environmental sustainability, and ecology. Under my direction this program was implemented in three Adams County school districts and helped to train undergraduate volunteers from various disciplines in environmental education. Thus began my career as an environmental educator.

After I graduated I worked as a naturalist at the Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve, a museum educator at the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, and a math and science tutor at Huntington Learning Center. Then, as a graduate student at Stony Brook University and UC Santa Cruz I led laboratory and class sessions as a teaching assistant for upper-level marine mammal biology courses, an introductory biology laboratory, and the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science. My teaching style has focused heavily on active and experiential learning to improve student engagement with course materials and allow students to take charge of their learning experiences. I also focus heavily on transferable skills for students interested in STEM careers and beyond, such as providing a five week intro to R course for novice programmers.

If you are a teacher interested in a classroom visit focused on my research or STEM careers, or are interested in my five week intro to R course please feel free to contact me.